


Misheard

by essdee05



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Best Friends, F/M, Friendship/Love, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25766527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/essdee05/pseuds/essdee05
Summary: Hermione is desperately in love with her best friend Draco Malfoy. She is convinced that he is not romantically interested in her, until that fateful day!
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	Misheard

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever story! Currently, a one-shot that I am planning to convert into a multi-chapter fic depending upon the reviews. So please review :) All kinds of reviews are welcome :)
> 
> All characters belong to J.K Rowling, I am not making any money out of it - obviously!
> 
> Also, I am posting it simultaneously on wattpad. You can find my work under essdee05.

Love is in the air, they say. One can feel it on those days, where there’s a mildly breezy cold air soothing your face under warm sunshine. The weather that reminds one of everything that’s good in their life. The colorful flora around making one feel that they’re the central part of a fairy tale romance plot. Today is definitely one such day, capable of inducing pleasantness in even the grumpiest of the people. Add to that the company of the dearest, the day is bound to feel even more magical.

It is that kind of day, a perfect day for a long walk in the park. It seems like half of Middleton has the same idea, for, the park is overflowing with visitors. So many people around to offset the wonderfulness of the magical day. However, that is not the source of Hermione’s irritation. She is so engrossed in her thoughts that even her overcrowded favorite spot near the lake had escaped her notice.

“Penny for your thoughts?” asked her, the subject of her predicament.

Hermione, startled by his question, came out of her musings and looked at him. Seeing him took her back into her thoughts, how he has been unknowingly tormenting her since he came into her life all those years ago.

“Hello!!, Back to earth, Granger!” Hermione startled again to see Draco waving his hands in front of her. She could see a twinge of irritation seeping into his voice.

“Are you alright?” asked Draco. She can now feel his concern.

“Yeah, I’m alright, just thinking about us”

“What about us?” This time she can feel his curiosity.

“Well, I was initially just enjoying the lovely weather, and then I looked at you, and started thinking about how we met again at Blaise’s party. It was two years ago, wasn’t it. Time flies so fast. And then, I went back to our schooling days and was counting the number of times we had talked when you interrupted me from my precious musings” she replied with an air of mock annoyance.

The laughter that erupted from him made her heart skip a beat and she couldn’t help but wonder how she has gotten here. She has been desperately in love with this man, and has been so since the past year and half, and yet, here he is, absolutely clueless about her feelings. Had she not been certain that he would not return her feelings, she’d have chided herself for being a coward.

Since she knows that her affections are one sided, she had steeled herself to lock away her feelings and move on. She thought that she had got everything under control but that illusion broke a year ago when she saw him out on a date with Gabrielle Delacour. Those 9 months of his relationship were pure torture to her and she had often wondered if she had harmed anyone in her past life to feel this pain.

Though it broke her heart to see him hurting, she had to stop herself from doing a happy dance when he sat on her couch, nursing a drink after his breakup. Even then, she waited. She waited for her feelings to fade away like they had when she moved away for college. She thought that was the last of him in her life after graduating from high school, and that he would be nothing but a memory reminding her of the intensity of her teenage infatuation.

But life had other plans for her. It brought him back into her life when she attended Blaise’s house warming party. She met him again, crashed into him to be more specific, drenched his shirt with her drink, and suffice to say, shell-shocked to see him again. To this day, Draco teases her about her mouth gaping, and that he had dazzled her by his charm. Though he was right on point, she simply blamed her behavior on alcohol.

That incident, which she refers to as “The Crash”, marked the beginning of their friendship. He was amused, instead of being annoyed at her clumsiness, brushed off her apologies, and began introducing himself to her when she reminded him that they went to high school together. She was very reluctant to admit that the blush on his cheeks from embarrassment did funny things to her stomach.

“I’m surprised you didn’t comment about the crowd yet” Draco noted bringing her back to the present time.

“I don’t have a ground to comment when I myself am here”

“Yeah, but we come every weekend. We are regular patrons of this park, not the fair weather visitors” Is it pathetic that she even finds his dramatics endearing.

“Let’s visit the lake” she was desperate to distract herself from Draco.

“To the portrait stall then?” That is her favorite spot in the entire park. The view opposite the portrait stall is spectacular in her opinion and she is surprised that it doesn’t draw many visitors. Probably because everyone knows that the stall and the surrounding area is full of avid readers and somehow it became an unspoken rule to not disturb them. She, being one of the seasoned readers, even has her own spot.

“Right, let’s go”

“I heard there’s some sort of education fair going on near our spot!” said Draco. Our spot, it has such a good ring to it.

“Really, in the park, that’s absurd. Aren’t there exhibition halls for those sorts of things?” No matter that she is very preoccupied by the blond haired predicament walking beside her, she is still bothered that their spot was invaded.

“I mean, not really a fair fair, I think some bloke is teaching something to neighbourhood kids, and want to have them close to nature. And before you ask me how is it a fair, since he means for the kids to get interested in the subject, I think it’s still a fair.”

“Let’s go have a look”

“Seriously, what has gotten into you? I just gave you a very absurd reason and you accepted. I demand to know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, Granger” She somehow missed everything he said and was focused only on one word, he called her pretty. In a warped manner, yes, but he still called her pretty. Is he trying to flirt with her? Was she very much wrong to assume that he has absolutely no romantic interest in her? But then, she knows his type, the type he follows very diligently.

Every single person he has ever dated fit that type - tall, bold, outgoing and stunningly beautiful. She is none of them, she is good looking but not a head turner. Tall, bold and outgoing - just forget about them already, she is the exact opposite of them. Her tiny frame is often the subject of his teasing, and she would just prefer staying at home to going out any day. She definitely doesn’t fit his bill.

What about his flirting though? She is not sure if he is even trying to flirt. She wants to get out of this funny business as soon as she can, it is driving her crazy.

She noted that they had just reached the turn near the stall. There are indeed many kids over there, and Mr.Stanson showing them around. Now that they are nearby, she could clearly hear Mr.Stanson explaining the migratory patterns of the seasonal birds visiting the lake. She has always been amazed by his intelligence, he seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of almost everything.

“I like you”

Her breath stopped when she heard these words. She felt like she was being squeezed in her heart and that she realized she was liking that sensation. Why wouldn’t she like it? Those were the words she has been dying to hear from him but had resigned herself to never being the recipient of, and now, all her suppressed dreams have been awakened.

She cursed herself for being such a coward all this time and subjecting herself to the torture which apparetly was completely avoidable. Draco has always been the bravest amongst the both. She was wondering if he was as afraid as she was when she realized that he would be waiting for her reply and decided to be brave and pour out her feelings.

With a wide grin she couldn’t hide even if she wanted to, she replied, “I like you too!”

Later on, looking back at that moment, Hermione often wondered what would have happened had she stopped right there instead uttering her next words.

“In fact, for quite a long time”.

And she waited for his reaction. He looked gobsmacked and shocked, and definitely not like someone who has been waiting to hear their attraction being reciprocated. There wasn’t any hint of the smile she was searching for. His reaction seemed highly irrational to her, unless, lost in her thoughts, she simply imagined him saying that or she simply heard what she wanted to hear. He was still unmoving and staring at her like he had seen a ghost.

Hermione was staring back at him too. She doesn’t know what he was thinking, she was hoping for him to say something, but at the same time, desperately wishing for him to forget whatever happened in the past five minutes. In her mind though, a million thoughts were racing. What if he decides that it is too awkward to talk to her? What if this walk on this beautiful day is the last of their friendship?

However, even in this humiliating situation she had put herself in, her curious mind questioned what he had said that she had misheard. She didn’t imagine his words, she was sure, she hasn’t gone nutters in his love yet. She wanted to know, she very much wanted to know what led to this point. And so she asked.

“What did you say”

“I said High IQ” Draco replied pointing towards Mr.Stanson, the walking library.

“Oh” she said eloquently.

Well Fuck!


End file.
